Chapter 413. The Second Time (2)
Time passed since then,
and the festival held in the capital Palantia—no, in the capital of the Palatio Margrave House—ended.
The capital began to recover its original atmosphere.
The king and the key figures of every country, who had come to congratulate Alon's coronation, returned to their nations, and the nobles filling the banquet hall also dispersed.
It was natural.
It was almost surprising that they had been able to dedicate so much time considering that everything had been destroyed by the Divine Blood.
And the now first King of Palantia, Alon Palatio, was—
"…Your Majesty, yes, for now, the territory expansion can proceed as planned, but I believe we are lacking too many things."
"……Is that so?"
—in a meeting with the top brass of Palatio.
Although, calling it the top brass was a figure of speech, because only Evan, Penia, Alexion, and Silly were there.
It was no different from any usual meeting.
"Yes. For starters, a new castle needs to be built, doesn't it?"
"A castle, you say…."
Alon nodded.
In a common territory, it wouldn't matter much whether there was a castle or not, but now Alon was not a noble, but a king.
That is to say, he needed to maintain a certain dignity.
"It will certainly be necessary, but… do we have money?"
Although not at the level of Alexion, Alon did have a fairly clear notion of the Margrave House's financial state.
‘It must be starting to get dangerous.’
The house's finances were quite good at that moment.
They had obtained the materials for the territory expansion ridiculously cheap considering current prices.
However, even taking that into account, building a castle was not a cheap project.
‘We have enough to raise it, but……’
It made no sense to pour absolutely all the funds into the castle's construction. And upon asking, Alexion reviewed some documents and said:
"Under normal circumstances, we would be short on budget, but now the situation is a bit more favorable."
"Really? Why?"
"Because of the gifts sent by the various countries during the proclamation ceremony. There were quite a few."
"…Enough to build a castle with them?"
"Strictly speaking, it's not that it's enough for an entire castle, but it will help a lot."
"…Even if you say it like that, it must be an enormous amount…"
"It is."
At Alexion's affirmative response, Alon couldn't help but be surprised.
He knew that those attending a proclamation brought gifts merely out of formality, but he didn't imagine those “formal” gifts would be of such magnitude.
That is why, after thinking about it for a while, Alon concluded:
"Then let's build the castle. But let's save on everything possible."
"Understood. We will raise the castle in the inner precinct."
"How much construction time do you estimate?"
"It depends on the assigned budget, but if we hire a large number of mages, the time will be reduced significantly."
"Mages, huh…"
While Alon meditated, Penia intervened:
"Do you want me to contact the Magic Tower?"
"If it is possible, yes."
"Good, I will contact them separately. I will try to get the labor as cheap as possible."
"Thank you."
"It is nothing."
Penia smiled.
Alon thought for an instant that she was smiling more lately, but he put the thought aside and continued reviewing other pending matters.
"Would that be everything urgent?"
"Yes. The territory expansion already has materials arriving within a month, but we plan to hire people beforehand to prepare the land. And regarding the soldiers, I heard that Divine Land will handle everything."
"…I see."
With that, the day's meeting ended.
And when he was getting ready to stand up—
"Godfather."
"Rine?"
Rine approached Alon.
"Are you leaving?"
Alon, who intuited the reason why she showed up, asked, and Rine nodded.
"Yes, and I also wanted to talk a little. Alone."
"Talk?"
"Yes," Rine replied briefly.
Alon was confused for an instant, but ended up nodding. Penia and the others withdrew, casting strange and curious glances.
When they were left alone—
"So, what did you want to say? Is it something that must be conveyed in secret?"
Alon went straight to the point.
Rine, who had her hair styled differently, toyed with it and said:
"Hmm… no, not really."
"Then?"
"I only said that because I wanted to be alone with you for a while."
Alon went blank. Rine let out an amused giggle.
"Just kidding, Godfather. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Divine Land."
"……Divine Land?"
"Yes."
"Is something wrong with Divine Land?"
"Not exactly. Rather, I thought it would be good for you to start learning how to use Divine Land properly."
At that, Alon remembered something obvious:
It was Rine who suggested he create the Divine Land.
"Use it properly?"
"Yes."
"…I thought I was already using it well."
It is true that since the Divine Bloods fell, he hadn't been able to use it appropriately. But before that, he used it very well to manage the accumulated faith. That’s why he didn't understand.
Rine replied:
"I thought so too… but actually, Godfather, you are using only half of Divine Land."
"……Half?"
"Yes. To be exact, you only use the part about consuming the faith you receive."
Alon frowned, intrigued.
Then she—
"I will teach you something I found in the forbidden section of the library."
With a smile, she approached him.
The next day.
"Let's depart."
Despite being the king, Alon traveled without escorts, accompanied only by Evan and Penia.
"Alon-nim."
"Hm?"
"Now you are Your Majesty… shouldn't you bring escorts?"
Evan asked, but Alon had another opinion.
‘With more people, we only travel slower.’
If he were weak, he would have brought guards, but that wasn't the case.
That is to say, it was almost impossible for him to face a real risk just like that.
Therefore:
"With more people, we only take longer."
"…Well, that is true."
Evan nodded and then added:
"Ah, now that I remember, you seem worried since yesterday. Is something wrong?"
"Since yesterday?"
"Yes, since you spoke with Rine."
Alon let out a slight sound upon recalling his conversation with her.
‘I was reviewing information about the Divine Bloods in the forbidden section and found something interesting.’
‘What information?’
‘It seems that Divine Bloods with enough power could not only strengthen their believers but also strengthen the territories they possessed.’
‘Strengthen believers or territories?’
‘Yes.’
‘I know that those who believe in me use my power, but that is just…’
‘Exactly. That is just lending them your strength.’
‘Then…’
‘To be exact, what I found is not simple strengthening, but—’
"…Evolution."
Alon murmured the last word Rine had told him.
The Divine Bloods, according to her, did not just grant power, but evolved humans.
And if what Rine said was true, he could do it too.
But there was a problem:
‘…Since the Divine Bloods fell, faith does not accumulate.’
Inside Alon, there were two Divine Powers:
That of the Poison Eater
And that of the Devourer
But strangely, apart from those two, there was no more faith accumulating in him.
‘Nothing has changed, so it should work…’
While he meditated on it on the way to Teria, to meet with Siyan—
"Ah, Alon-nim, did you know this?"
"……What?"
"Last night a Divine Blood appeared near our territory."
Evan dropped the news suddenly.
"……What?"
Alon tensed immediately.
But Evan, calm, added:
"Ah, do not be alarmed. If it were serious, I wouldn't say it so casually."
"Then…"
"The Divine Blood disappeared right after appearing."
"…Disappeared?"
"They say it died."
"Died?"
"Yes. According to the Information Guild, there were traces of battle, red blood of a Divine Blood, and pieces of the corpse scattered everywhere."
Alon remained silent, bewildered.
That a Divine Blood died was a good thing.
But—
‘Who the hell could have…?’
As far as he knew, there was no one capable of killing a Divine Blood.
Just at that moment,
in the office of Rosario—
"…Yutia-nim?"
Cardinal Sergius stopped, startled.
His eyes landed on Yutia Bloodia, sitting there.
And he had plenty of reasons:
‘…How is she here so fast?’
He had heard that she had left Palantia yesterday.
And while Sergius was still stunned—
"Yes, tell me."
Yutia spoke softly.
Sergius noticed two strange things about her:
First, on the tip of her black priestly robe, there were red bloodstains.
And second—
‘…Hair ties?’
Some rubber bands, normally used by women to tie up their hair, were trapped in her white mane.
Two of them.
His gaze passed from the hair to the blood on the clothes. Yutia looked down slowly and—
"My, I didn't even realize it was stained."
She commented with a calm smile, then looked back at Sergius.
"So, what is happening?"
At her question—
"…Nothing."
Sergius closed his mouth.
He knew very well
that in this world there were moments when it was better not to know.
That is why, instead of asking how it was that she was already in Rosario instead of traveling—
"Today you look… unusually in a good mood."
He changed the subject.
It wasn't an excuse to get out of the situation: she really had an unusual soft smile.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. Did something good happen?"
Yutia, still with a faint smile, looked at him and said:
"Yes, something good."
"……Something good?"
"Yes, something good."
She turned her head to observe the capital of Rosario through the window.
And then—
"Finally, all plans have fallen back into place."
"…Plans?"
"Yes. The preparations have ended."
Her lips moved slightly.
"All preparations."
Her crimson eyes shone like blood.
